2. How on earth did the scammers justify the 7 figure fee to the victim? I mean, and I think this was partly Renegade's point above, how could anyone be convinced that rooting around on someone's hard drive is worth that much money?

OH, this gets even better every time I see something about it. How's this: The "foreign nationals" that these grifters claimed were out to get this idiot included: the Illuminati, Polish pirates, Roman Catholic Opus Dei initiates, an Indian military operative..... and a photo with President Obama! And the amount is $20 million now?